HC Deb 18 July 2002 vol 389 cc516-7W
Mr. Alan Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many(a) individual cases the CSA has handled, (b) absent parents have refused to co-operate with the CSA and (c) deductions from earning orders have been issued in each year since 1997. [65531]

Malcolm Wicks

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Alan Campbell, dated 17 July 2002: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me. You ask how many (a) individual cases the Child Support Agency has handled (b) absent parents have refused to co-operate with the Child Support Agency and (c) deductions from earning orders have been issued in each year since 1997. We don't hold all the information you seek. However the table below sets out:

  1. (a) the number of new applications received each year
  2. (b) the percentage of cases in which the non-resident parent complies with the requirement to pay maintenance
  3. (c) the number of cases in which a deduction from earnings order is applied.

Year to31 st March Applications Compliance Deduction from Earnings Orders applied
1998 402,220 19,064 Data not available
1999 374,455 2,456 123,084
2000 369,226 13,578 Data not available
2001 303,797 5,360 133,444
2002 365,414 5,686 115,003

I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many existing cases need to be transferred to and how many new cases have been assessed under the new Child Support scheme. [69531]

Malcolm Wicks

The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Anthony Steen, dated 17 July 2002: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me. You have asked the following questions: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many existing cases need to be transferred to and how many new cases have been assessed under the new Child Support scheme". No cases have yet been assessed under the new Child Support scheme. We can only begin to assess cases under the new scheme when Ministers have decided to implement the new arrangements. When they do so they will have to lay a Commencement Order before Parliament. They will only do that when they are confident about when our new computer system, that is currently being tested, will be operational. Based on current forecasts of the predicted Agency caseload, it is estimated that approximately one million existing cases would require to be transferred to the new child support scheme. I hope this is helpful.

Mr. Russell Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases have been referred by the CSA to their Special Payments Unit in each of the past five years, broken down by region; and of these, what percentage resulted in a compensatory payment being made. [66860]

Malcolm Wicks

[holding answer 4 July 2002]The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the my hon. Friend.

Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Russell Brown, dated 17 July 2002: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in replying to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency promised a substantive reply by me. Your ask how many cases have been referred by the Child Support Agency to the special payments unit in each of the past five years broken down by region; and of these what percentage resulted in a compensatory payment being made. We don't collect information in quite this format. The table below sets out, by reference to our business units, the number of cases each year in which the special payments team authorised payment.

Year to 31 March
Business Unit 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
Eastern 1,156 2,010 2,210 2,379 1,209
Wales & North West 580 781 998 1,005 599
Midlands 851 1,475 1,528 1,576 768
Scotland & North East 724 1,226 1,225 1,405 716
South East 575 848 1,019 1,292 732
South West 580 882 1,067 1,962 1,006
Total 4,466 7,222 8,047 9,619 5,030

These figures represent for each year the following percentage of cases referred to the special payments team for consideration for redress of a consolatory payment:

  • 1998 61%
  • 1999 87%
  • 2000 82%
  • 2001 83%
  • 2002 80%